BERLIN -- German police have recovered a cookie sculpture that may have been stolen by someone impersonating the Cookie Monster.

Spokeswoman Jacobe Heers says the 20-kilogram (44 pound) gilded sculpture was found Tuesday morning outside a university. It was hanging from the neck of a horse sculpture with a red ribbon.

The century-old cookie was reported stolen last month from the office of a bakery company in Hannover.

A local newspaper later received a letter demanding cookies be delivered to children at a hospital. The paper also received a picture of someone dressed like Sesame Street's Cookie Monster holding what appeared to be the stolen cookie.

The Bahlsen company promised a reward of 52,000 packets of cookies for a charitable cause if their emblem turned up.